Facebook has been holding a series of smaller events for developers as part of its renewed focus on developers. Last year it bought Parse, a widely respected startup that gave developers tools and support to create apps on different platforms, for $67 million in stock.

Buying Parse helped ease growing tensions with developers as Facebook rolled out a number of its own apps that competed with those from third-party developers. Apps -- especially mobile apps -- are critical to Facebook because they help attract new users and keep current users engaged.

Facebook has been trying to persuade developers to build their apps on Facebook as a way to be discovered by the world, not just for Apple's iOS and Google's Android stores.

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In a blog post, Sukhar said: "App development is happening at such a crazy pace these days. Almost every day I find a new app that is solving problems or providing entertainment in a really creative way. My favorite app of the moment is Threes. I can't stop playing it. But building a hit app and finding people who will love it is really hard. Turning that app into a money making venture is even harder. Helping developers solve these problem is why we're doing an F8."

F8 isn't held on a regular schedule. The last conference took place in 2011 when Facebook unveiled the Timeline makeover of users' profiles.